Maybe you’re aware, maybe you’re not aware. Either way, I’ll let out a little secret: American infertility doctors are much better than European infertility doctors. There. I said it. Now let’s start a chant: USA! USA! USA! Wait… Didn’t we explicitly look for treatment in Europe? That seems like a pretty dumb thing to do, with this newfound knowledge of ours. Let’s investigate a little further: are American infertility specialists simply better? Do they have higher success rates? My momma always told me to listen to what the science says….

This is Part 12 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. I’m very happy to let you know that we successfully transferred an embryo into my uterus today! Well, the doctor should get some of the credit, I guess, since he did most of the work 😉 Embryo Updates I was nervous all weekend. I was relieved for 5 whole minutes on Saturday…

This is Part 11 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. I just wanted to give you a quick update on how the little embryos are doing so far. The clinic updates us every day with how many are still alive, how many cells each of them have, and what grade they are. All embryos have their own unique number so we…

This is Part 10 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. I made it through egg retrieval! After 12 days of follicle stimulating meds, I’m no longer growing follicles. They’re gone. Out of my body, out of my hands. So let’s walk through the process. Day 16: Egg Retrieval It goes without saying that I barely slept the day before egg retrieval….

This is Part 9 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. Oh boy, we’re almost there! This will be the last post before egg retrieval and I just can’t wait to find out what will happen next. First though, let’s summarize Day 8 until 13. Growing Follicles Growing follicles is what I’ve been doing the last few days. I haven’t experienced any of…

This is Part 8 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. On Day 10, just after my second ultrasound, my IVF coordinator booked an appointment with a doctor for me to have an EKG done. They want to make sure your heart can handle the anesthetics to keep the mortality rate of a simple elective procedure such as egg retrieval as low as…

As we’ve determined previously, to us IVF treatments in the US are cost prohibitive, and that’s putting it mildly. And while we could turn our little piggy banks upside down and pay up, that’s just not the game we play. Not when we don’t even know how many IVF cycles/treatments we need or how long it will all take. We’re simply frugal by nature, always have been, always will be. To us, the risk/reward curve points in a clear direction: medical (IVF) tourism. IVF tourism is quite popular. Driven by…

This is Part 7 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. Can’t believe we’re already at the 7th chapter of this journey! Let’s get right to it! The Clinic We had our first appointment at the clinic this past Monday. The clinic is located in the city center, in Prague’s Old Town neighborhood, and is easily reached by public transportation….

This is Part 6 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. We’re finally starting the more exciting part of this journey! I’m sure you were just as bored as I was, reading about the pretreatment scans and all of the back and forth I had with the clinic. No more! We’re talking hardcore IVF stuff today. Gory injections with long sharp…

This is Part 5 of the IVF Diary series. I’ll be keeping a diary of all important IVF days, starting from when we first chose to undergo infertility treatment in Prague. Click here to read all other IVF diary posts. The… what cam? Before flying over to Europe and start treatment, the doctors at my fertility center in Prague need to know if there are any cysts, polyps, or fibroids in my ovaries or uterus. A pelvic ultrasound is the method of choice. Doesn’t ring a bell? It’s also called a…